Tough 29-game schedule facing Tech women's basketball team in 2008-09

Sep 30, 2008

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Brand new opponents Louisville, Lipscomb,
Drake and Florida Atlantic, some familiar foes such as Middle
Tennessee and Belmont, a renewal of the rivalry with powerhouse
Georgia, and a tough 18-game Ohio Valley Conference slate combine
to make up a challenging 29-game schedule facing the Tennessee Tech
women's basketball team in 2008-09.

Third-year head coach Amy Brown announced the schedule this
week.

"This is going to be a very tough schedule," Brown said. "It will
be very competitive. We hope that playing this difficult of a
non-conference schedule will make us better for our conference
schedule. We're looking forward to it."

The 2008-09 Golden Eagles will host 15 home games in Eblen Center,
highlighted by visits from Louisville, Drake, Middle Tennessee,
Memphis and Evansville, plus all nine Ohio Valley Conference
foes.

Tech gets the campaign underway by hosting Tusculum College in an
exhibition game on Monday, Nov. 10.

The regular season kicks off on Saturday, Nov. 15, when Louisville
visits. The Cardinals reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament
last season.

Also on tap in the first few weeks are a tournament at Florida
Atlantic in which Brown's team faces the host team and either Texas
or Georgia Tech. That's followed by a game at perennial power
Georgia.

"The first seven games provide a tremendous level of competition
before the conference schedule begins," Brown said. "Louisville was
a Sweet 16 team and they're coming to Cookeville, Drake has a great
tradition, both Georgia Tech and Texas are at Florida Atlantic so
that should be a great tournament, and we return to Georgia for the
first time in a few years, and that's always tough place to play.
That's a bunch of great teams. Then you add in teams such as
Evansville, Southern Illinois, Middle Tennessee, Memphis, Lipscomb
and Belmont and it just gets tougher."

The list of non-conference games continues some long-standing
rivalries for the Golden Eagles.

"Some of those are familiar non-conference opponents, teams we have
played often over the years," Brown said. "We want to continue to
play them. Our fans are interested in seeing them because of their
geographic proximity."

Playing that wide range of teams is something that Brown thinks
will help her team prepare for Ohio Valley Conference play.

"Playing teams from so many different conferences gives us a lot of
different looks," she said. "If we can score and defend against
those teams that we're not as familiar with, then we should be able
to be more successful against the conference teams that we are more
familiar with."

That game opens a stretch from early December through mid-January
that Golden Eagle fans will enjoy, when Tech hosts eight of the
next 11 games including five conference games and familiar
non-conference foes Evansville (Dec. 18), Middle Tennessee (Dec.
28) and Memphis (Dec. 30).

The league schedule resumes the first week of January with home
games against Southeast Missouri (Jan. 3) and Eastern Illinois
(Jan. 5). Following a road swing to Morehead State and Eastern
Kentucky, the Golden Eagles return home to host two more OVC
contests against UT Martin (Jan. 15) and Murray State (Jan. 17) to
close that home stretch.

The OVC regular season ends the same way it begins, with Tech
meeting Jacksonville State. Tech visits the Gamecocks on Feb.
28.

The Ohio Valley Conference tournament begins March 3 with
first-round games at campus sites, then heads to Nashville for the
finals March 6-7.

Season tickets for the 2008-09 campaign are on sale at the
Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center, or by calling (931)
372-3940. Tickets are also available online at TTUsports.com.